(Volunteers help build homes in Philadelphia for Habitat for Humanity. Photo by Cherri Gregg)

By Cherri Gregg

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Dozens of volunteers will spend the next three days hammering away in South Philadelphia, as they help build six new townhomes for families in need.

“I’ve been helping put up siding, floors, painting, drywall,” said said one partner homeowner, who was dressed in jeans and a hard hat.

She is putting in hours of sweat equity for Habitat for Humanity this week, helping to build six new homes near 23rd and Cross Streets, near Tasker, in Point Breeze.

None of these homes will go to her, but she can’t help but dream.

“The day that I get my house, I’m going to paint my door blue, because that’s my son’s dream color,” she says. She needs more than 200 additional hours of volunteer time before she’s eligible for a home of her own.

Volunteers from the carpenters’ union and five builders — including the Dale Corporation, JJ White, Equinox Management & Construction, and Paiz Construction — are also donating time, helping Habitat for Humanity save $60,000 and complete four months of work in three days.

“By Saturday the houses will have all the walls up, the roofs on, and some of the windows in,” says Habitat’s Philadelphia executive director, Frank Monaghan. He says each home costs about $140,000 to build.

And he says that need is great: the local group gives away 15 houses a year, but hundreds of families are waiting for a home.

These homes in Point Breeze are expected to be ready for families to move in beginning in December.